Troops shoot, leaving family asking questions

The death of three children and their father at a US Army checkpoint illustrates the danger civilians face in Iraq, writes Chris Kraul in Baghdad.

The Kawaz family had just dropped off grandmother and were heading home in their small car, well in advance of the city's 11pm curfew. No one saw that US soldiers had set up a checkpoint at the intersection ahead.

As their car rolled towards the checkpoint, a hail of bullets from US soldiers ripped through their vehicle, killing Adel Kawaz, 44, and three of his children, aged 18, 16 and 8. His wife Anwaar, screaming in vain for the soldiers to stop shooting, survived, as did the couple's 13-year-old daughter.

Although major combat operations may be over in Iraq, the Kawaz family's experience again illustrates the danger civilians face under the US-led military occupation. With resistance forces launching grenade, landmine and car bomb attacks on troops daily - another US soldier died on Sunday in a blast in Baqubah - soldiers are on high alert. In this tense and boiling-hot capital patrolled by 36,000 US troops, trigger fingers are at the ready.

The shooting of the Kawaz family happened at about 9.15pm on Friday. The army has not released details, but a military spokesman said on Monday that the incident was under investigation.

US officials also said they were looking into the apparent shooting of two Iraqi policemen by US soldiers on Saturday. The plain-clothes officers were in a car pursuing crime suspects when they were shot.

On Monday the surviving Kawaz daughter, Hadeel, said the soldiers who fired on her family car gave no warning. There had been an explosion in the neighbourhood that night, possibly from a faulty electricity transformer or generator. The family, concerned that the blast would attract US soldiers, decided to return home early. But unknown to them, soldiers had set up a checkpoint about 800 metres from the grandmother's house.

After the firing on their car stopped, Hadeel said, her father and eight-year-old sister Marvet lay in the car for an hour without receiving medical attention. Soldiers eventually removed them from the vehicle and they died at a hospital. Her brother Haider, 18, and older sister, Oulah, 16, died at the scene.

Hadeel explained how before the tragedy, she had taken a liking to the Americans. She and her siblings would interrupt their video games to give the soldiers water when they patrolled in the heat near their house.

"And now this happens to us," said Hadeel, who escaped with scalp and arm wounds from flying glass.

After the firing began, Hadeel's mother, eight months pregnant, screamed for the soldiers to stop, apparently to no avail.

Hadeel's uncle, Jamal Khathem, said the killings were God's will and that his sister-in-law had no intention of seeking restitution from the Americans. Still, it has surprised him that no one from the US Government had come to their house to investigate the shooting, check on Hadeel's condition or apologise.

A coalition spokesman said it was up to victims to apply for restitution after allegedly wrongful-death incidents, as well as to provide proof, including photos of the scene and victims. But Khathem said nothing could make up for what occurred.

"What has happened, happened. What could they offer us that would bring our family back to life?" he asked. "All soldiers care about is fighting and defending themselves, not about the problems of people like us."